


You told me to be better

by Dorthea



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types
Genre: Awesome James "Rhodey" Rhodes, BAMF Helen Cho, BAMF May Parker (Spider-Man), BAMF Tony Stark, Depressed Peter Parker, Emotional Hurt, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hospitalization, Hospitals, How Do I Tag, Hurt Peter Parker, Hurt Tony, I Can't Believe I Wrote This, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Identity Reveal, Implied/Referenced Suicide, James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark Friendship, James "Rhodey" Rhodes is a Good Bro, May Parker (Spider-Man) & Tony Stark Coparenting Peter Parker, May Parker (Spider-Man) Needs a Hug, Medical, Medical Conditions, Medical Examination, Medical Inaccuracies, Medical Procedures, POV Tony Stark, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Parker Whump, Peter Parker is a Mess, Precious Peter Parker, Protective James "Rhodey" Rhodes, Protective May Parker (Spider-Man), Protective Tony Stark, Sad Peter Parker, Secret Identity, Suicidal Thoughts, Suicide, Suicide Attempt, Supportive May Parker (Spider-Man), Teen Peter Parker, Tony Stark Does What He Wants, Tony Stark Feels, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Has Issues, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Uncle James "Rhodey" Rhodes, Whump, Why Did I Write This?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-18
Updated: 2020-06-18
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:13:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24794446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dorthea/pseuds/Dorthea
Summary: The last time Tony saw the kid was after the ferry incident, and he would have liked to keep it that way.And if it hadn’t been for one phone call, from a panicked - no, terrified - May Parker around midnight that very same day, he likely wouldn’t have seen the kid ever again.As Tony got closer and landed on the roof close to the teen, it became obvious that something wasn’t right.Peter’s eyes were close, face relaxed, and at first you might be able to make yourself believe his just asleep. The rest of the teen is a mess...
Relationships: Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Comments: 17
Kudos: 320
Collections: ellie marvel fics - read





	You told me to be better

**Author's Note:**

> Warning: Suicide Attempt.

The last time Tony saw the kid was after the ferry incident, and he would have liked to keep it that way.  
  
He had given the kid an “I survived my trip to New York” shirt, and “Hello Kitty” pajamas pants, and sent him on his way home through the subway. The Spider-man suit confiscated.  
  
And if it hadn’t been for one phone call, from a panicked - no, terrified - May Parker around midnight that very same day, he likely wouldn’t have seen the kid ever again.  
  
“I’ve called five police stations! I’ve called five of his friends” May had said over the phone. And since none of them answered, Tony had seemingly been next on the list. Which seeing as May hadn’t seen Peter since that morning - and therefor didn’t know he was no longer “interning” for Tony - made sense.  
  
So Tony had called a suit, asked Friday to track Peter’s phone, and flown out to the area were he had seen Peter just hours earlier.  
  
In reality Tony had better things to use his night on. Like helping Happy with getting ready for moving day, or thinker in the lab at the compound. Peter didn’t have a suit anymore, couldn’t go out as Spider-man, so the chance of him being hurt was slim. If Peter were anything like Tony had been in his teenage years, he was likely just mad, hiding at some party, getting drunk.  
  
But Peter wasn’t like Tony at all. Peter were supposed to be better. So, what if he failed to do that as Spider-man? He could still be better than Tony.  
  
“I am unable to track Mr. Parker’s phone” Friday’s robotic voice sounded inside the suit. Tony sighted; this was a waste of time.  
  
“Check street camera’s and search for heat signatures” Tony snapped “And be quick. I’d rather not spend a whole night looking for a teenager that can’t seem to keep his nose out of things he shouldn’t be looking into”.  
  
“Street cam’s is coming up empty boss” Friday replied “But I do detect a heat signature around 3 blocks from here. Would you like me to bring up the quickest route?”.  
  
“Be a sweetheart, Fri” Tony said, and in response Friday pulled up a map showing him the faster way to get to whoever were on that roof, calculation wind, flying speed and so on into the choice of route.  
  
And true the Friday’s words, there, laying on his back were Peter. Still wearing the cloths Tony had more or less thrown at him earlier that day. But as Tony got closer and landed on the roof close to the teen, it became obvious that something wasn’t right.  
  
Peter’s eyes were close, face relaxed, and at first you might be able to make yourself believe his just asleep. The rest of the teen is a mess. Vomit is covering the ground beneath him, and the front of his shirt. Splotches off blood can be found in the vomit, and while his lips are pale blue, they are also covered in blood that’s slowly running down his cheeks.  
  
Tony can hear the boy’s breathing being slow and shallow, as he carefully steps out the suit and kneels next to the boy.  
  
“Friday, Scan him!” Tony can hear his own voice shake slight, and he can see he hands shake as he carefully places two fingers on the teens neck, searching for a pulse. For a second Tony is scared there isn’t one and then, there.  
  
Weak, and dangerously slow, is the pulse. Almost so small and desperate that if Tony hadn’t been so hyper focused, he would have missed it.  
  
“Mr. Parker is showing signs of a overdose” Friday says, “His body temperature is laying around 104 degree, his heart rate and blood pressure is slowed, there are signs of internal bleeding in his stomach area and his starting to show signs of being oxygen deprived likely do to vomit or blood in his airways or lungs”.  
  
Tony sucks in a deep breath as Friday lists off symptoms, but Tony doesn’t hear anything other than the word “Overdose” being played on repeat inside his head.  
  
“Call Dr. Helen Cho! I’m taking him to the compound” Tony says, the suit quickly reassembles around Tony’s body, and he carefully picks up the limp boy in the metallic arms. Bridely style.  
  
“Already done Boss. Would you like me to contact Mrs. Parker to inform her of Mr. Parker condition?” Fridays askes as Tony starts flying through the air.  
  
The busy New York street is loud and noisy under them, as cars drive through the streets. But Tony doesn’t hear it. The lights in countless apartments were parents are likely tucking in their kids, are shing bright into Tony’s eyes. But Tony doesn’t see it. The wind is howling past the suit, insane amounts of speed, adrenaline pumping through his body. But Tony doesn’t feel it.  
  
Tony feels nothing.  
  
Nothing expects Peter’s fragile body, his head resting against Tony’s shoulder, or more specifically Tony’s suit. Tony see the kid’s body shake, sweat covering his forehead, the dark red drops of blood lingering just behind his lips. It makes him seem to young, and for a moment Tony can’t help but wonder how this kid, how Peter, could also be Spider-man. The happy, joyful persona behind the red mask with giant eyes. And Tony hears Peter’s heartbeat, not really of course, but he hears the quiet beeping Friday has turned on inside the suit matching the kids heartrate, that barely there.  
  
_I wanted you to be better_  
  
A distant voice says, Tony’s voice. And Tony knows this… whatever this is, it’s Tony’s fault.  
  
Tony’s fault because he brought the kid into this situation in the first place, Tony’s fault for being distant and not listening after Germany.  
  
But Tony had listened, right? Tony had for months been listening to the voicemails that Happy didn’t care for. He heard about the churro he got from the nice old lady, about the cat’s he saved from trees. But had he missed something. Had he listened to the wrong thing.  
  
Had Peter quietly been calling out for help ever since the fight in Germany? And if so, how had he and Happy not notice?  
  
_You know what, this isn’t working. I’m going to need to suit back_  
  
What had Tony missed? What caused this? What triggered this?  
  
Tony was pulled out of his self-blaming thoughts, as the compound came into view, slower than Tony would have liked. “Friday, redirect all power to the repulsors in the boots”. Friday doesn’t verbally answers him, but the speed picks up just enough for Tony to feel it.  
  
Before he really knows what’s happening his landing inside the med bay, glass covers the floor, and doctors and nurses pulls Peter from his arms. The suit unfolds, returns to it’s storage container in the basement lab.  
  
Helen Cho is already hocking Peter’s body up to heart monitors, oxygen readers. A mask is placed over the boys mouth and nose, air being forced into his body with every push on the bag the nurses make. The other doctors stumbling around, throwing commands south and west and north and Tony is just standing there, watching as they intubate the kid. May’s kid.  
  
Carefully hands are being placed on Tony’s shoulders, pulling him backwards, out of the med bay room. They push him into a chair in the waiting room area.  
  
Rhodey places himself on the floor, right in front of Tony, meeting the billionaire’s eyes. “He’ll be okay. Cho is one of the best Doctors in earth” Rhodey quietly reassures. Only to the cut off by an alarm filling whole the compound, an alarm Tony haven’t heard since he programmed it in. He really hoped he never would.  
  
Tony shot’s up from the chair, and almost runs to the med bay door again. But Rhodey stops him. Tony can hear Helen shout inside the room. “Push 40 mg of Adrenaline”.  
  
Quick footsteps can be heard on the other side, Tony barely hears anything else but suddenly Cho calls “Clear”, the alarm stops. Tony pushes past Rhodey and throws himself into the room, but no one seem to care much about his present as they administer drugs, switch settings on the ventilator that’s breathing for the damn kid and getting ready to… Tony isn’t sure at first what they getting ready for, but it become clear soon enough.  
  
Helen pulls on blue latex glows, grabs the small tube from the tray and starts pushing it into Peter’s nose. A large syringe is connected to the end of the tube, and she carefully pulls out a little bit of the stomach contend. Confirming the placement, before starting to push saline solution into Peter’s stomach, and extracting more and more of the contend.  
  
It’s a mess of half-digested food, pills and stomach acids and blood, that leaves the kid’s stomach, one syringe at a time, until it clears up. Until there’s nothing left for Cho to pull out.  
  
“Stark” Helen is suddenly standing right in front of him “You need to tell me something. What are we dealing with here? Do we need to prep him for surgery to stop the bleed in his stomach or dose he has enhanced healing abilities?”.  
  
Tony sighs, shakes his had slight and gulps before speaking “He… Peter has… enhance healing abilities… but I never got around to test them”. He replies, with a regretful tone. And Helen’s gone again, drawing blood from the kid’s arm watching it under a microscope.  
  
Soon after Tony and Rhodey are left along in the med bay room, but nurses are surely watching through security cams. Checking Peter’s vitals through Friday every few minutes. And soon enough Happy come walking into the med bay with a worried looking May.  
  
“Helen informed me what happened, though it might be best to bring the kid’s aunt here” Happy says, leaving no room for objection. Tony knows it would matter anyways. So he just sits down in one of the chairs next to the kids bed.  
  
He looks so small and young laying in the white hospital room, tube down his throat, I.V’s connected to his arms.  
  
They sit in silence for a while, listening to sound of the ventilator and heart monitor, before May breaks the quietness.  
  
“You better tell me what’s going on right this instant!” May says, worry and anger filling her voice watching him with an expecting look on her face, mouth in a thin line, “Not just in connection with this” she adds, “But with Germany too”.  
  
“I haven’t been completely honest” Tony starts “Peter, your nephew… his Spider-man”, there’s no need to lie anymore. Lying got them to this point, and Tony knew this was a mistake right from the beginning. He just respected the kid’s wishes to keep quiet. Not every can be like Tony.  
  
_The truth is, I am Iron man_  
  
May freezes, mouth slightly open and eyes glossy, then she nods “It explains a lot, actually” she whispers “Sneaking out of the hotel room in DC? I though he was doing drugs” Mays says, tears starts spilling out her eyes, quietly “Peter struggled after Skip, and everything with Ben. His therapist warned us something like this” she carefully runs her fingers through the boy’s hair “might happen. But Peter’s a kid, Stark! He shouldn’t be going out there playing a hero” May sighs “Though it seems Spider-man might have saved Peter too”.  
  
Tony isn’t sure how to react to this new information, this kid… HIS KID, had been suicidal and he didn’t even know it?  
  
“I really fucked up by taking the suit away today, didn’t I?” Tony asks into the room, not expecting an answer. But he get’s one anyways.  
  
“You couldn’t have known” May replies “I’m just glad you protected him out there, even if I don’t like the thought of him being out there at all… his a kid” she carefully dries her eyes and holds Peter left hand tight.

***

Peter wakes up the first time in the early morning hours. Tony isn’t sure if his really there, but it’s clear his fighting the tube.  
  
It’s removed soon after.  
  
Helen has confirmed that Peter overdose on a combination of Zolpidem, a type of sleeping pill and Ketoprofen, a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug. Five time more than you’d need to kill an elephant. No, that isn’t right… enough to take down THE HULK!  
  
It’s around dinner time when Peter regain consciousness again, this time for real. May is taking a shower, so it’s only Tony in the med bay room.  
  
Tony shots up, and stands over Peter’s bed, in his line of vision, when he see’s the kids eyes flutter. “You with me, kid?” he asks, and Peter replies with a groan, that was probably supposed to be an answer. “Gave us quiet a scare there, Underoos”.  
  
Peter’s eyes focus on Tony, locks to the older man actually and whispers “Sorry” almost inaudible.  
  
“Hey, none of that. Sorry doesn’t cut it, because sorry isn’t needed” Tony says, “I should be the one who’s sorry”. Peter suddenly clears up a lot more than he seemed to have been just a few moments ago.  
  
“What… no… Mr. Stark you don-“ But Tony cut’s him off.  
  
“I’m sorry kiddo. I should have seen that you were struggling” Tony sighs “and I might have told your aunt about Spider-man”.  
  
Peter shakes his head “There is no more Spider-man though…”.  
  
“Your right” Tony answers “Right now there isn’t. But when Peter Parker’s back on his feet and has gotten the help he needs… aunt hottie has allowed it to continue. She thinks it might be good for you”.  
  
Peter has already differed off again before Tony is done talking.  
  
Tony just runs his fingers through the brown, curly hair. “You going to be the best of all of us Pete”.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Want to read more? Check out my current multichapter project "Not by blood".


End file.
